Jacqui Murray's Blog, page 169
April 29, 2013
Writer’s Tip #46: Beware of Word Selection
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s tip: Be careful of your word selection.
Don’t use a unique word more than once. If you use convoluted or plethora more than once–in the book–readers will notice. The first time, they’ll like it. The second time, they’ll wonder about your writing skills.
Conversely, don’t be afraid to repeat the unimportant words, like coffee, desk.
Credit: The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: communication, words, writers resources, writers tips Tagged: words, writers resources, writers tips, writing
April 26, 2013
Book Review: How to Write a D*** Good Novel
How to Write a Damn Good Novel: A Step-by-Step No Nonsense Guide to Dramatic Storytelling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
James Frey’s How to Write a D*** Good Novel is a classic for writers. It’s been around a long time (since 1987) because it is straightforward, easy to read and prioritizes what’s important in writing a great novel. If you’re new to writing, it tells you what the most important elements are and if you’re experienced, it reminds you where the problem areas lay. The fact that he relays all the details with a sense of humor makes everything digestible–as opposed to pedantic lecturers who write not for the reader but to hear the sound of their own words.
Chapters include the Who of writing, conflict, the story’s Premise, how to tell a story, climax-resolution and end, POV, dialogue, and editing. Among the chapters are topics that aren’t covered well in other books such as how to get to know your character (maybe via an interview), how to avoid stereotyping your character, keeping characters in the crucible, genres, when/how to begin the story before the beginning, resolving conflict, objective viewpoint (have you ever heard of that one?), foreshadowing, symbols, dynamic prose, writers groups, and where to after you’ve finished the book.
The real plus of this book is it is readable, down-to-earth, speaks in language ordinary people understand and addresses problems we all face in our writing. When I get stuck in my story, I first identify what the problem might be, then I pull my writer’s resources out and read what the experts tell me would solve it. Frey has more of those specific problems than most other books. Every writer’s handbook will tell you about the dialogue but not many get into foreshadowing and flashbacks.
There are a few items missing, though. For example, I went through a phase in my current novel where I didn’t believe I had a good handle on what my theme was. Frey doesn’t have anything on theme (I found some good information in Bob Mayer’s Novel Writer’s Toolkit). Or story arc, for that matter. Frey tells me to begin the story at the beginning and add lots of conflict, but sometimes I need more specifics than that.
The other piece that’s missing in his book is an index. I like a good index so I can quickly find a specific topic. In Frey’s book, I have to scan the Table of Contents (which is pretty detailed) to find it.
The last bit Frey doesn’t cover is how to write with inspiration and creativity. I don’t hold that against him, though, because I think we writers have to bring that with us to the novelist table.
Overall, I recommend every writer include it in their library of How-to books and review it when you have a bit of free time. It will remind you of what’s important in our trade.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews, writers, writers resources, writing Tagged: book review, storytelling, writers, writers resources, writing books
April 24, 2013
What’s Trending on WordDreams
I calculate What’s Trending on my blog by which of my posts are popular a particular ninety-day period. Here’s this period’s run-down:
51 Great Similes to Spark Imagination
178 Ways to Describe Women’s Clothing
35 Weird Traits Your Characters May Have
How to Describe a Landscap
How to Describe Nature
One-Word Characteristics to Spice Up Your Writing
100+ Traits Your Character May Posse
Characteristics That Make Your Character Memorable
How to Describe a Person’s Clothing
Plotting a Story–with a Spreadsheet
17 Tips on How to Market Your Books Onlin
Interesting, isn’t it? 8 out of 10 were descriptions (some tangential). That tells me, writers visit my blog to hone their skills, not for my opinions (which is good because I’m not terribly opinionated, and those I have, I’m happy to keep between my husband and myself).
What do you think?
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: descriptors, writers resources Tagged: descriptions, writing resources
April 23, 2013
Tech Tips for Writers #105: Create Shortkeys for any Windows Tool
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: I love the Windows snipping tool, but it takes too long to get to. Is there a shortkey?
A: Oddly, there isn’t, which is why I’ve never used it. I want a screen capture that’s instantaneous. Jing is even too slow for me (though I tolerate it because of all its very cool annotations).
Then I discovered how to create a shortkey:
Go to Start–accessories
Right click on ‘snipping tool’
Select ‘properties’
Click in ‘shortcut’ (I never knew that field was there. Maybe they added it with Win 7)
Push the key combination you want to use to invoke the snipping tool. In my case, I used Ctrl+Alt+S
Save
Now all I have to do is remember the shortkey!
Did I mention this works for any tool?
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: problem-solving, tech tips for writers, writers tips, writing Tagged: tech tips for writers, writers tips
April 22, 2013
Writers Tip #45: Finish Sentences
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s tip: Finish your thoughts. Limit ellipses and sentence fragments.
Beginners use ellipses to show authenticity in a scene, but what it becomes is unrealistic. Most of us finish our sentences because our listeners wouldn’t understand. Even in interior monologue, we complete the thought, it’s just fast.
And, don’t use fragments. It seems authentic, stream of consciousness, but it’s confusing.
Credit: The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.
Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: writers, writers resources, writers tips
April 19, 2013
Book Review: A Virtual Tour of Africa
National Audubon Society Field Guide to African Wildlife
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I purchased this book because several settings in my most recent novel take place in East Africa. A trip there wasn’t in the cards for me, so I had to make do with a variety of virtual tours. This Field Guide proved to be a wonderful resource.
It includes an overview of the continent, color pictures of flora and fauna, and a detailed explanation of each life form. I much appreciated the discussion it provided of the various habitats–the savanna, the Great Rift Valley, Ngorongoro, the Sahara, the Kalahari, and the myriad of other habitats that cover this huge continent.
One of the most valuable parts of this book is the huge selection of color plates on several hundred species living in Africa. They are so detailed, I was able to bring the Gorillas and dik-dik and the other birds, reptiles, mammals that populate my novel to life as rich, full-featured individuals.
I’d recommend this for anyone traveling to Africa or using the continent as a setting in their writing.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, Technology in Education featured blogger, and IMS tech expert. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-6 Digital Citizenship curriculum, creator of technology training books for middle school and ebooks on technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews, nature, research, setting, writers resources Tagged: Africa, african environ, african wildlife, book review, tour of africa
April 18, 2013
What Do Emotions Look Like?
It is an ongoing test of a writer’s ability, our facility with showing, not telling. Readers don’t want a narrative of how a character feels. And if that emotional character isn’t your Point of View character, you can’t say things like, I felt diminished. I was afraid. If you’re not in that character’s head as the POV, you have to relay their emotions by showing what they look like to an outsider.
Not as hard as it sounds. It’s more of a habit. Start by watching people around you. See what you can tell about what’s going through their minds while they’re not talking. Notice which body parts give them away. It really doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong; what matters is that you notice the changes in their body as their emotions leak out.
Here’s a partial list I use to inspire my creativity when I get stuck. As with all of these lists, don’t use them verbatim; adjust them with your author’s voice, to suit your situations.
And, add your own in the comment section. Share with the rest of the community:
Her wounds were superficial, but her anxiety went bone-deep
Flimsy feelings
Unorthodox personal charm
Power player
Quiet authority
Faceful of bad attitude
intellectual myopia
looked at me with all the expression of a dinner plate
Thoughts were like birds rattling around in a cage
Like an emotional sticky tray
Like an emotional Venus fly trap
I felt weightless and anonymous
Youth left waiving from the platform as the rain pulled out
Workout clothes, thigh pants, headband, busy look, 2 Starbucks coffees
Her face had gone pale, her eyes glassy with fear. Her arms trembled
Staring in doe-eyed disbelief
anger steaming behind him like coal smoke from a power plant
the oppressive reek of excess testosterone that oozes like rank body odor from the kind of man who likes to throw his weight around
For more descriptors for characters and settings, click here.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: characters, communication, descriptors, writers, writers resources Tagged: body language, character appearance, characteristics, characterization, descriptors, writers, writers resources, writing
April 17, 2013
Why I Don’t Get Writers Block
Writer’s block got you down? Try this.
I know the popular lore is every author gets writer’s block–that frozen brain that blocks all efforts to put two words together, much less three. It’s that underlying conspiracy that would make the 9/11 Truthers proud.
Not true for me. My problem is too many things to write about. It might even be considered a focus problem. When I sit down to write, my brain skitters like a stone across the surface of a lake.
Truth, I find writing strenuous. Always thinking through someone else’s head (my character). Living in a virtual world where stuff happens that I’d never face in real life. There are a couple of things I do about that:
I start with a solid outline. I go through it like a nit picker, to be sure I include all the steps, transitions, plot twists. Is there logic in what’s happening? Or dislogic where required? My outline covers only plot, but it must integrate each character’s traits so it becomes their actions and reactions. If I get stuck writing the outline, I force my size ten feet into my character’s shoes: I sit back, stare at something far off beyond the confines of my property line and invoke that imagination the world has relentlessly tried to drum from my cerebral skillset. What would my character smell, feel, as she’s walking the corridors at 10pm on a moonless windy night? Stale food? Cigarette smoke? I’m thinking she’d be frightened, all alone, footsteps echoing off the bare walls.
I also start with a solid character fact list. I put everything down about the character that I would know if it was me–background, history, past traumas, foibles, passions, speech quirks, what drives them, their strengths and weaknesses, what their typical day would be, their part in the story, etc. I need to know them as I know myself.
After the character fact list, after the outline, while I’m struggling through the Writing, I pay attention to Point of View. Sometimes, I realize I’m writing a narrative, not the believable story of a single mom with money problems whose computer is being hacked by terrorists. I back up, find the spot I fell out of character and start over. Some people can work in an omniscient Point of View, but I can’t get involved enough in the story unless I’m in my character’s head. I have to think like her/him, feel as they do so I can write their parts authentically. This-all takes a long time, but along the way, I get a better understanding of my story. I believe it’s a significant reasons why I don’t get writer’s block. It’s also the reason why many good writers say the story “just unfolded” for them. Well, it did, because it was real.
If my imagination takes me somewhere I know nothing about, I…
Research. God I love the internet. If I’m trying to imagine what the Hudson River smells like in summer, Google has an answer. People blog about stuff like that! In this case, it was an efriend. If I’m wondering what stores I’d pass walking down Amsterdam in New York, Google Streetview takes me right there. It took me to the front of my character’s apartment (which turned out to be a factory, so I had to move it–thank you Streetview)
If you find the traditional cures like these four don’t work:
How to Fix Writers Block
Writer’s Block is a Form of Torture
Overcoming Writer’s Block
Writers Block 911
…try mine.
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: writers resources, writing Tagged: writers, writers block
April 16, 2013
Tech Tips for Writers #104: Need a File on Your iPad? Here’s an Easy Way
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: I have a video on my computer I want to use on my iPad. How do I do that?
A: There are ways to do that–email it to your iPad, open through DropBox–but those have issues:
emailing requires extra steps and time you may not have, and many email accounts limit you to
DropBox has limited space. And like email, you must put materials in DropBox to access (I know–Duh, but that requires planning. What if your inquiry-driven writing class popped onto this topic on the fly?)
If you’re like me, anything to make worker faster, easier, less steps is a good thing.
I use Carbonite to make data available to my iPad. Yes, Carbonite charges a fee because its primary service is as a back-up of your computer. I decided the cost was worth it to have an offsite automatic redundancy of the material that makes my life tick forward. I’ve used flash drives and CD’s and Windows built-in back-up, but nothing beats an autonomic tool. One of the pluses is that you can access any data that is backed up from your computer’s C drive from anywhere as long as you have the User name and Password. That means when I’m at school and need a file I saved at home, it’s now available.
To access these same files from the iPad, all you do is install the Carbonite app, open it, and access the materials in your backed up drives. Everything opens–movies, Word Files, everything. Of course, you can’t edit them, but you can view and copy-paste.
My only experience is with Carbonite. Anyone have another back-up service that does that?
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Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: problem-solving, tech tips for writers, writers tips, writing Tagged: tech tips for writers, writers tips
April 15, 2013
Writers Tip #44: Cut Unnecessary Articles
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Today’s tip: Cut the unnecessary articles.
Sometimes they sound affected. Other times, they just aren’t necessary to get your message across. Get rid of them. Cut unnecessary articles (a/an, the) for stronger impact.
Not: A sadness washed over her. Try this: Sadness washed over her.
Not: The library contains the information on many subjects. Try this: The library contains information on many subjects.
Here’s a test to see if you can distinguish where they’re needed. It’s short–probably five minutes. See how you do.
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.
Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, CSG Master Teacher, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog,Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: writers, writers resources, writers tips
